Rats/mice are eating my house and car

[hhfarang]

Rats/mice are eating my house and car

Last year rats or mice ate a metal in-ceiling light fixture and a hole in our ceiling. We changed pest control people as the first company couldn't seem to get them under control.

Since then they have eaten my phone line twice, my cable line once and my UBC/Truevisions line once. I hired someone to try to make sure all wires are in conduit (under the house and in the attic) but if they are exposed even a little at connecting points the rats get at them. They have already cost me a lot of money.

I took my car to the car wash yesterday and when I came back to pick it up the guy showed me where rats are eating my engine! No telling what else they are into in all the nooks and crannies of a car. The big plastic covers on top of my engine have chew marks all over them and there is already a small hole in one cover.

Besides the monthly professional pest control, I have been laying out those sticky traps and have caught 3 or 4 of them over a few weeks but now the rest have wised up and stay away from the traps, even when bated with chicken meat!

And before you ask, there is no exposed food source to attract them (other than the bait I was putting in the traps). Our house is spotlessly clean all the time as my wife is meticulous about this. I guess that's why they eat the house and car... Our land is bounded on three sides by somewhat overgrown empty lots. I'm guessing that's where the seemingly endless supply of them are coming from.

Does anyone else have this problem and/or know a solution. I've never seen animals like these Thai rodents that eat cars and houses before and neither of the pest control companies we've hired seem to be able to get rid of them.!

A cat is out of the question as my dog would kill it. (He actually killed one of the rats too but there still seem to be more of them around.)

[VincentD]

HHF,

most pest control companies tend to manage termites and stuff. The few that *do* say they control vermin actually don't. We've had a rat problem in the company, and are now on to the second 'professional' pest control company.

1. They come and lay traps once a month, including ceilings. They will put poison bait if requested.

2. We had a hell of a time getting them to come and clean up dead rats and have sometimes had to live with the smell for two days (most don't work on Mondays). Until I threatened them with a bill for our work stoppage manhours at their management level.

Right. Rant over.

-----

Do it yourself.

1. Buy rat poison tablets (blue oval-looking lozenges) and scatter throughout the ceiling area. The poison makes them thirsty so they probably won't die up there (at least not yet for me).

2. The glue rat traps do work, but you've got to use smellier bait. Get prawn paste (kapi), roast it on a burner (until you need to run out of the kitchen will be about right) and put this in the center of the glue plate. Works wonders.

3. With the cage-type traps, try to get fresh coconut (before it's grated), roast in similar manner to above and put bait on hook.

4. My brother-in-law puts mothballs in the engine compartment. Napthelene is quite strong smelling and sublimes (i.e. turns into a vapour directly from a solid) so tends to repel and possibly suffocate the blighters. I've not tried it myself but he seems to be quite confident it works. Not sure if he removes them before driving off.

5. Limit access routes to the roof. Cut any nearby branches so they can't leap across. Cut a slot in an old CD, glue two together so it can rotate on the axis, and slip it over the phone and power cables at several places along the length. They like to run up water pipes too (you will see a black trail mark where they do this).

Not such a big problem these days.

[hhfarang]

VincentD,

Thanks for all those great suggestions... will give them a try before I am literally "eaten out of house and home" (and car!).

[Randy Cornhole]

Have you checked to see if any of your neighbours are looking a bit hungry lately...?

[norm]

Get yourself a nice python and put it in the attic, it will make short work of the rodents. When he has nothing left to eat he will leave.

The down side is they can cause a lot of noise when catching the rats & mice, your wife may not take to it too well either. And if it is a god size one he might take a liking to your dog also.

On second thought the rat poison sounds like a good idea.

[shunpike]

HHF
I realise you said you can't get a cat on account of your cat-killing dog, but a cat is the one sure solution. Perhaps you could keep the dogs outside the house (I've seen your garden and it's quite a swanky place for a dog or two to live), and keep the cat indoors.

Anyway, good luck! I've had the same problem with mice in the roof\ceiling. I wouldn't mind them so much if they ate other fauna or flora...but they insist on eating wires and cables.

[stgrhe]

HHF

Rentokil is a company that should be able to do something about your problem. They are working in many countries and I used them when I lived in Sydney. I saw one of their cars on soi 94 last week so they probably have an office here somewhere.

[hhfarang]

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, and yes, Randy, that does look like one of my neighbors...how did you know?

[hhfarang]

When I posted I got one of those ministry of information porn site warnings, so I hit the back button and posted again resulting in a double post...

[PET]

HHF

I was going north up Canal Road yesterday and after the 'new' working traffic lights ( thanks to Khun Tuck) I saw on the right hand side a RENTOKIL sign over a shop/business - I cannot remember how far past the lights but could be someway on.

[hhfarang]

Thanks, will check it out!

[Takiap]

Just get a crowd down from Isaan.....

[STEVE G]

I had the same problem earlier in the year HH. I had mice get into a washing machine and chew up the wiring and they'd started on the soundproofing under the bonnet of the truck. I assume they shred it for nesting as I can't imagine why anything would eat wiring.
I was told of the same local cure as VincentD above, that is napthalene moth balls.
I was a bit dubious but seeing as how they cost so little I decided to give it a try. I used those ones in the small plastic cages and secured them in the engine compartment of the truck and under the washing machine.
So far it seems to have worked; I imagine the mice just don't like the smell.

[Big Boy]

hhfarang wrote:

the guy showed me where rats are eating my engine! Shocked No telling what else they are into in all the nooks and crannies of a car. The big plastic covers on top of my engine have chew marks all over them and there is already a small hole in one cover.

Sorry, I know it's poking fun at your misfortune, but I'd love to see some photos.

[STEVE G]

The little buggers do quite a bit of damage; I had to rewire half of the washing machine!